Record warmth at the top of the Greenland Ice Sheet

The coldest place in Greenland, and often the entire Northern Hemisphere, is commonly the Summit Station. Located at the top of the Greenland Ice Sheet, 10,551 feet (3216 meters) above sea level, and 415 miles (670 km) north of the Arctic Circle, Summit rarely sees temperatures that rise above the freezing mark. In the 12-year span 2000 - 2011, Summit temperatures rose above freezing only four times, according to weather records researcher Maximiliano Herrera. But remarkably, over the past week, temperatures at Summit have eclipsed the freezing mark on five days, including four days in a row from July 11 - 14. There are actually three weather stations located at the location--Summit, Summit-US, and Summit AWS. The highest reliable temperature measured at any of the three stations is now the 3.6°C (38.5°F) measured on Monday, July 16, 2012 at Summit-US. A 4.4°C reading at Summit in May, 2010 is bogus, as can be seen by looking at the adjacent station. Similarly, a 3.3°C reading from June 2004 is also bad. Records at Summit began in 1987.

Video 1. A 20-ton tractor attempting to repair a bridge washed out by the raging Watson River on July 11, 2012 in Kangerlussauaq, Greenland gets washed downstream. The driver escaped unharmed. Image taken from an article, Warm air over the ice sheet provides great drama in Greenland, at the Danish Meteorological Institute's web site.

Record heat leads to major flooding in GreenlandThe record heat has triggered significant melting of Greenland's Ice Sheet. According to the Arctic Sea Ice Blog, on July 11, glacier melt water from the Russell Glacier flooded the Watson River, smashing two bridges connecting the north and south of Kangerlussuaq (Sønder Strømfjord), a small settlement in southwestern Greenland. The flow rate of 3.5 million liters/sec was almost double the previous record flow rate. The latest forecast for Summit calls for cooler conditions over the coming week, with no more above-freezing temperatures at Summit.

Another huge iceberg calves off of Greenland's Petermann GlacierA massive ice island two times the size of Manhattan and half as thick as the Empire State Building calved off of Greenland's Petermann Glacier on Monday, July 16, 2012. According to Andreas Muenchow, associate professor of physical ocean science and engineering at the University of Delaware's College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment in his Icy Seas blog, the break-off point has been visible for at least 8 years in satellite imagery, and has been propagating at 1 km/year towards Nares Strait. The same glacier calved an iceberg twice as big back on August 4, 2010--the largest iceberg observed in the Arctic since 1962. The freshwater stored in that ice island could have kept the Delaware or Hudson rivers flowing for more than two years, or kept all U.S. public tap water flowing for 120 days. “While the size is not as spectacular as it was in 2010, the fact that it follows so closely to the 2010 event brings the glacier’s terminus to a location where it has not been for at least 150 years,” Muenchow said in a university press release. “Northwest Greenland and northeast Canada are warming more than five times faster than the rest of the world, but the observed warming is not proof that the diminishing ice shelf is caused by this, because air temperatures have little effect on this glacier; ocean temperatures do, and our ocean temperature time series are only five to eight years long — too short to establish a robust warming signal.”

Figure 1. The calving of a massive 46 square-mile iceberg two times the size of Manhattan from Greenland's Petermann Glacier on July 14 - 18, 2012, as seen using MODIS satellite imagery. Image credit: NASA.

Figure 2. Look familiar? Two years ago, a 100 square-mile ice island broke off the Petermann Glacier. It was the largest iceberg in the Arctic since 1962. Image taken by NASA's Aqua satellite on August 21, 2010. Image credit: NASA. I've constructed a 7-frame satellite animation available here that shows the calving and break-up of the Petermann Glacier ice island. The animation begins on August 5, 2010, and ends on September 21, with images spaced about 8 days apart. The images were taken by NASA's Aqua and Terra satellites.

Just keeping a mental note, so to speak but:-It seems we have now got almost no anti Global warning/ Climatic change towards the heating up factor, fans or advocates.Does This mean we can return to pure weather which of course will contain lots of news of climate change and global warming. Catch 22?I can't remember when somebody posted an accomplished attempt at planetary warming denial?Then again I might have blinked!The general background opinion seems to be that the projected temp increases will be progressive and sort of linear. How horribly wrong this assumption is going to be. The ice stuff will melt most when rainwater falls on it and if you have a temp above 0/C then you get rain. Simple.

Quoting PlazaRed:Reading through the blog post again, it interesting to note that water in one river is putting 3,500 cubic meters of water a second into the oceans. Must be other rivers?I'm sure somebody with a better slide rule than me will come up with how many units of time/ hour days it will take to put a cubic kilometer or cubic mile of water into the seas.The ice replacement rate on the Greenland ice cap must now be much less than the melt rate!

meanwhile...how much snow and ice is forming in the Southern Hemisphere?

If I take one from column A and one from column B,can I get a free egg roll?

LOL. You are marked down as 1/2 a vote for each. But out of curiosity do you prefer soy, duck sauce or mustard with your egg rolls? BTW what is your favorite chinese food here in the Fort Lauderdale area. Ever since channel 10 busted my local chinese restaurant during their "dirty dining" segment for, yes literally, keeping their pet dog in their kitchen I haven't been able to find a new one.

BTW, looks like a few dry days moving into south florida due to my uncle SAL arriving tomorrow and staying into the weekend.

It might be worth keeping an eye on that ULL spinning around the GA-Carolina border if it holds together and makes it off the coast intact over the next 24 hours. I think Dr. M mentioned that area several days ago because of the "split" in the jet stream and very low sheer just off the coast. Very good upper level vorticity and decent mid-level vort. If it splashes down, there is lots of moisture and convection (over land)in the vicinity.

Quoting 954FtLCane:Maybe we need a good poll to liven things up a little. So by popular demand here we go.

How long do you think it'll be before we have our next named storm.A) 1-10 days (on or before July 28th)B) 11-20 days (between July 29th & August 7th)C) 21-30 days (between August 8th & 17th)D) 31+ days (on or after August 18th)E) *Who cares the world is coming to an end and most hurricane prone areas will be flooded due to global warming before the next one hits so everyone abandon the blog and run for your lives.......F) I'm not partaking in this poll and I'm voting "F" so you will never post one again.

*disclaimer, I do believe in global warming just having a little fun.

If I take one from column A and one from column B,can I get a free egg roll?

By early July 2012, more than 60% of the contiguous United States was experiencing drought conditions, nearly double the area from early January. This animation shows monthly composites of D1 to D4 categories of drought in the contiguous U.S. over the time frame January 2012 to July 2012 using data from the U.S. Drought Monitor. The Drought Monitor summary map identifies general drought areas, labeling droughts by intensity, with D1 (lightest color) being the least intense and D4 (darkest color) being the most intense.

Quoting 954FtLCane:Maybe we need a good poll to liven things up a little. So by popular demand here we go.

How long do you think it'll be before we have our next named storm.A) 1-10 days (on or before July 28th)B) 11-20 days (between July 29th & August 7th)C) 21-30 days (between August 8th & 17th)D) 31+ days (on or after August 18th)E) *Who cares the world is coming to an end and most hurricane prone areas will be flooded due to global warming before the next one hits so everyone abandon the blog and run for your lives.......F) I'm not partaking in this poll and I'm voting "F" so you will never post one again.

Quoting Tribucanes:Very strong line of bowing storms coming through my neck of the woods here just north of Madison, Wisconsin. Strongest part of this line looks to have 80-90mph potential. Already may be producing 80mph winds and increasing quickly still. Finally some rain. Going to get close to two two and a half inches of rain in a thirty minute to hour span. Lot of runoff but it will help. Ugly line though, La Cross radar in NW Wisconsin shows a great radar shot of this line.

Quoting 954FtLCane:Maybe we need a good poll to liven things up a little. So by popular demand here we go.

How long do you think it'll be before we have our next named storm.A) 1-10 days (on or before July 28th)B) 11-20 days (between July 29th & August 7th)C) 21-30 days (between August 8th & 17th)D) 31 days (on or after August 18th)E) *Who cares the world is coming to an end and most hurricane prone areas will be flooded due to global warming before the next one hits so everyone abandon the blog and run for your lives.......F) I'm not partaking in this poll and I'm voting "F" so you will never post one again.

*disclaimer, I do believe in global warming just having a little fun.

I say B-C but I'll get a birthday present on August 12th with a formation of a storm no matter what.

Good Evening. What is more impressive to me at the moment, than the structure of the wave, is the huge plume of moisture that it is imbedded in along the ITCZ. It is moving in tandem with the SAL towards the West but is missing two key ingredients in addition to some of the others mentioned on here already; sustained convection and no consensus model support for development at the moment. But it is a great start for the ITCZ moisture trail for ones that might follow in the short-term.

Quoting 954FtLCane:Maybe we need a good poll to liven things up a little. So by popular demand here we go.

How long do you think it'll be before we have our next named storm.A) 1-10 days (on or before July 28th)B) 11-20 days (between July 29th & August 7th)C) 21-30 days (between August 8th & 17th)D) 31 days (on or after August 18th)E) *Who cares the world is coming to an end and most hurricane prone areas will be flooded due to global warming before the next one hits so everyone abandon the blog and run for your lives.......F) I'm not partaking in this poll and I'm voting "F" so you will never post one again.

Quoting spathy:And wouldnt the lake quickly draining away be a good thing over the long run?The darker water would tend to gain heat faster(hold it longer) than the ice left after draining, wouldnt it?

The water usually drains down within the ice sheet, which enhances glacial lubrication and speeds up the glaciers, thus increasing the ice loss.

Quoting Bluestorm5:Was just watching the "Hurricane Hunters" show on Weather Channel that I recorded... I remember tracking the missions into Irene, Katia, Maria, and Nate on the computer and I thought the show was pretty cool.

Maybe we need a good poll to liven things up a little. So by popular demand here we go.

How long do you think it'll be before we have our next named storm.A) 1-10 days (on or before July 28th)B) 11-20 days (between July 29th & August 7th)C) 21-30 days (between August 8th & 17th)D) 31+ days (on or after August 18th)E) *Who cares the world is coming to an end and most hurricane prone areas will be flooded due to global warming before the next one hits so everyone abandon the blog and run for your lives.......F) I'm not partaking in this poll and I'm voting "F" so you will never post one again.

AT 652 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED ALINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING QUARTER SIZEHAIL...AND DESTRUCTIVE WINDS IN EXCESS OF 70 MPH. THESE STORMS WERELOCATED ALONG A LINE EXTENDING FROM 7 MILES SOUTHWEST OF COLUMBUS TOBROOKLYN TO WINSLOW...MOVING EAST AT 40 MPH.

Reading through the blog post again, it interesting to note that water in one river is putting 3,500 cubic meters of water a second into the oceans. Must be other rivers?I'm sure somebody with a better slide rule than me will come up with how many units of time/ hour days it will take to put a cubic kilometer or cubic mile of water into the seas.The ice replacement rate on the Greenland ice cap must now be much less than the melt rate!